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In
his first remarks addressing the 22-year-old woman's death after
being arrested for wearing clothes deemed un-Islamic, Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei said her death "deeply broke my heart" and called
it a "bitter incident" provoked by Iran's enemies.
"The duty of our security forces, including police, is to ensure
the safety of the Iranian nation...The ones who attack the
police are leaving Iranian citizens defenceless against thugs,
robbers and extortionists," Khamenei said.
Security forces, including police and the volunteer Basij
militia, have been leading a crackdown on the protests, with
thousands arrested and hundreds injured, according to rights
groups, which put the death toll at over 130.
Iranian authorities have reported many members of the security
forces killed during the unrest, which has spiralled into the
biggest show of opposition to Iran's authorities in years, with
many calling for the end of more than four decades of Islamic
clerical rule.
Khamenei said security forces had faced "injustice" during the
protests. "In recent incidents, it is above all security forces
including the police and Basij, as well as the people of Iran,
who were wronged," he said.
"Some people have caused insecurity in the streets," Khamenei
said, condemning what he described as planned "riots", and
accusing the United States and Israel - the Islamic Republic's
arch-adversaries - of orchestrating the disturbances.
Amini, whose funeral in the Kurdish town of Saqez on Sept. 17
sparked the unrest that quickly spread across Iran, died after
being taken into the custody of Iran's morality police in the
capital Tehran over "inappropriate attire".
The protests have not abated despite a growing death toll and an
increasingly violent crackdown by security forces using tear
gas, clubs and - in some cases, according to videos on social
media and rights groups - live ammunition.
Protests continued across Iran on Monday, with university
students staging strikes after security forces clashed with
students at a prominent Tehran university on Sunday.
Dozens of students were arrested and many have been injured
according to social media posts and videos. Reuters could not
verify the videos and posts.
(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi; Writing by Tom Perry and Parisa
Hafezi; Editing by Toby Chopra and Mark Heinrich)
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